Will examine CBI evidence against IB officer: New home secretary

New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) The government will examine the evidence against senior Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Rajinder Kumar, whom the CBI wants to prosecute in the Ishrat Jahan shootout case, newly appointed Home Secretary Anil Goswami said Sunday.

"I will see what documents are available with the CBI," Goswami, who took charge Sunday, told reporters when asked about the IB officer's role in the case.

The home ministry, which has maintained that prior sanction was required by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for prosecution of the senior Intelligence Bureau officer in the Ishrat Jahan shootout case, has expressed doubts over evidence tendered by the probe agency.

There has been speculation that CBI would file a charge sheet next week in which Rajinder Kumar could be be named for allegedly playing a role in generating the intelligence input that led to the alleged staged shootout.

Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan, Pranesh Gopinath Pillai, Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar were killed by Gujarat Police in a shootout in 2004 in Ahmedabad. Police said they were part of a plot to assassinate Chief Minister narendra Modi.

The CBI has questioned Rajinder Kumar, who was with the IB in Gujarat when the incident took place.

Home ministry sources said if the CBI proceeds without taking sanction from the government, Rajinder Kumar was free to move the court challenging the charge sheet.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules Gujarat, contends that the Ishrat Jahan shootout was not "fake" and was conducted on the basis of information received from IB. It has also raised questions over the manner in which the CBI was probing the case.